The Generation Rx committee from the Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy has received its fourth national win from the American Pharmacists Association Academy of Student Pharmacists for 2019-20.
The program has been nationally and regionally recognized for the past eight years. To be considered for the award, the committee must keep meticulous records of every event they conduct throughout the year.
“We have to report everything that we do,” said Dawna Metcalfe, 2019-20 Generation Rx committee chair. “And so then at the end of the year, we have to fill out this whole big, long report on everything that we did and how many people were there and all the events that we did and everything like that.”
The committee is known for offering trainings on how to use the drug Naloxone.
The COVID-19 pandemic shut down the committee in the middle of the year, so they had to find a way to offer their trainings and events virtually.
“I think that a lot of what went into us winning the award, ultimately, is that we were still doing events even virtually at that time, which was kind of new for us and new for a lot of people,” said Metcalfe. “So that was tough. But it was it was fun. It’s worth it.”
The committee is entering a new phase and altering its name to Operation Substance Use Disorders. They will be partnering will Walmart Inc. for this new venture. They will still, however, be offering the same events and trainings as before.
“We’re going to still be doing naloxone trainings,” said Metcalfe. “We’re still going to be going out in our community and just teaching people safe medication practices and how especially with a focus on the disease of addiction and naloxone administration and that type of thing.”
